Big Data is defined as high-volume, high-velocity and/or high-variety information assets that enable enhanced insight, decision making, and process automation. In other words, big data is the massive influx of information that can be acquired by a variety of systems. The amount of data stored by industries is now doubling at a staggering rate of once every 1.2 years. Big Data in and of itself has little value until it is analyzed and put to work. It can be thought of as the raw ingredients that are fed into business intelligence and business analytics. Before diving into the deep waters of business data, intelligence and analytics, a couple of definitions are helpful.

M2M (Machine to Machine) vehicle communication is moving ahead at a breakneck speed, especially in Europe, where the eCall system will become mandatory in 2018. Commonly known as the “internet of everything”, M2M is currently most visible in the automobile. Vehicles can now “talk” to each other as well as talk to other devices such as traffic systems. This is potentially one of the biggest technological leaps in the history of the automotive industry. The possible benefits are far reaching, even at this early stage of development.

"I Never Worry About Action, Only Inaction" Winston Churchill Humans are pre-programmed to avoid risk and seek safety. We only overcome the need for safety when we believe that the reward will be bigger than the risk. The limitation of that thinking is that risk/reward is a matter of perception (influenced by many factors) and thus not always based on fact. If our perception is that the risk is greater than the reward, we often choose inaction. We may falsely believe that the best choice is no choice; to maintain the status quo. This can be especially true with technology. Some OEMs have a measure of fear, uncertainty and doubt that causes delays in upgrading their technology infrastructure.